Apple Science Experiment: Prevent Browning

My kids love eating apples, but they really don’t love it when they turn brown. We decided to try a little apple science experiment so they could learn what keeps apples from browning. (See 200+ more STEM projects for kids)

We first talked about why apple brown and discussed the comparison with rusting (oxidation). It is a chemical reaction with the oxygen and an enzyme in the apples. This helped the kids understand why it happened.

How to Do the Apple Experiment:

I already knew the answer to this apple science experiment, but I didn’t want to let my kids know about it. I let them choose various substances from the kitchen to soak the apples in. I did make a suggestion of lemon juice, but let them choose the other things.

The kids chose vinegar, milk and baking soda. Just to give them a comparison, I left one with nothing on it (the control). We sliced the apples and put the slices into each substance to soak. We left them soaking for about an hour.

They were excited to see which one worked and which ones didn’t. Their guesses were not correct…

I then explained to them that lemon juice helps keep the apple from browning, because it is full of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and it has a low pH level. Ascorbic acid works because oxygen will react with it before it will react with the enzymes in the apple. Once the ascorbic acid gets used up, the oxygen will start reacting with the enzymes in the apple and browning will occur.

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also you could use a temporary vacuum chamber by taking a plastic bag and putting the apple inside of it . put the bag in to a bucket of water with the bag partially opened. the water pressure on the bag will force the air out of the bag and temporarily vacuum seal the bag. hope this helps 🙂

I am a former teacher turned homeschool mom of four kids. I LOVE teaching!
I believe learning should be enjoyable and engaging. My goal is to ease the burdens of educators by offering memorable learning activities.
Questions? Contact me here: karyn@teachbesideme.com
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